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Lest we forget our Anzacs of today

James Brown

"The most important consideration, if we truly value the Anzac spirit, must be to look after this generation of veterans better than the last." Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

For almost 100 years Australians have set aside time on Anzac Day to think about our forbears' sacrifices in a battle on a distant shore, in a conflict that none of us now alive ever experienced. For almost 100 years we have mouthed a silent oath not to forget so much heroism, and never again to make such mistakes in war. But somehow, in planning the Anzac Centenary, we've become convinced that in order to pay our respects, we need to pay hundreds of millions of dollars. And those veterans who have served us most recently in places such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and East Timor are feeling the opportunity cost of all this attention and public funding.

There is much that is good about the Anzac legacy; indeed, it is one reason why many people joined the military in the first place - including me. I'm glad Anzac Day has been restored from the wilt of the 1970s, when military service was something Australians seemed ashamed of and we neglected to honour those returning from Vietnam. But now Anzac is in danger of morphing beyond a silent injunction never to forget. A century after the war to end all wars, the Anzac industry has gone into hyperdrive. Some Australians are racing to outdo one another with bigger, better, grander and more intricate forms of remembrance.

In the next four years, in a country already home to thousands of monuments and a splendid national war memorial, governments will spend more than $325 million to commemorate the soldiers of a century ago. A travelling World War I exhibition could cost as much as $60 million, a new interpretative centre as much as $9 million. In Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, state governments plan to spend tens of millions on monuments and memorials. An Anzac Centenary public fund seeks $300 million in donations: a sort of Anzac levy on Australia's top corporations. All told, Australia will outspend the United Kingdom on commemorating the Great War by more than 200 per cent.

Yet this is a time when governments are tightening belts in almost every other area and a federal Commission of Audit is looking for savings. Both sides of politics acknowledge the Defence Force of today is underfunded by at least 25 per cent. Military readiness is already affected. Money for defence is so tight the Prime Minister's office is now approving overseas travel requests for military planners.

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But the real danger in all of this commemoration is it fails to connect with veterans who have served us in the past decade. Though the Anzac centenary will bring many new histories of Gallipoli, no official military history has yet been commissioned for conflicts in the Solomon Islands, Iraq, and Afghanistan. First editions of Charles Bean's World War I history were published three years after the war ended. But now, 15 years after Australia's successful campaign in East Timor, there is no official record of what our soldiers, sailors, and airmen and women did there. In the storybook of modern Australia, our modern veterans' story doesn't officially exist.

And though we acknowledge returning Afghan veterans need help with their mental health, public attention and government spending on ADF mental health initiatives are dwarfed by the Centenary of Anzac.

The most important consideration, if we truly value the Anzac spirit, must be to look after this generation of veterans better than the last. To make sure we have properly learnt the hard-earned lessons of Australia's past wars. To make sure Australian soldiers never again lose their lives in a poorly devised and executed military campaign. Not by steadfastly refusing to risk the lives of our military, for there will likely be causes important enough to risk lives for. But by ensuring if someone is willing to risk their life for Australia as a soldier, we will have made their training, equipment and strategy a top priority. And we will look after them properly when they return, by remembering the living as well as we do the dead.

James Brown served in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Solomon Islands. His book Anzac's Long Shadow: The Cost of our National Obsession is out tomorrow.

3 comments

Still around 12% of rough sleepers are veterans - a national disgrace.

Commenter

Digby

Date and time

February 16, 2014, 4:23PM

James .. what we have learnt will be immediately forgotten the minute the USA requests our involvement in another useless, unwinnable war they probably created. The politicians love being around and praising our troops until those troops are discharged - then they are seen as budget burdens and will make it as difficult as possible should you seek assistance. As a Vietnam vet I have seen this happen many times and many vets have simply given up and walked away from the system. For the more recent vets you need to understand that once you are no longer serving, you are no longer important. And for most RSL Clubs - they have just become lucrative businesses making millions for themselves on the back of Anzac and veterans.

Commenter

Nasho

Date and time

February 16, 2014, 5:13PM

The money spent on the Anzac Commemoration would be best spent on improving the life of our vets, $325 millions plus another $300 mil public donation - This is an insanely big number for glorifying the past. To think that we will be spending 200% more than the English is tragic, we should be spending less than 10% of what they will be spending giving the real scale of our involvement plus the impact of the war - the right amount would be about $20 mil, even then it is still $20 mil too much. Let's put that money toward improving the life of our vets and their families.